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The national goal of the Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Program is to improve the water quality of the nation's coastal waters. To that end, Section 6217 of the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments (CZARA) of 1990 required every state with a Coastal Zone Management program to submit to NOAA and EPA a plan for how the state will reduce nonpoint source pollution in its coastal watersheds. Pennsylvania submitted its plan in 1995. It was based on existing regulatory and voluntary programs addressing nonpoint source pollution under the following categories, also determined by CZARA: urban runoff, agriculture, hydromodification (changes to stream channels and flows), forestry, recreational boating and marinas, and protection of wetlands and riparian areas. EPA developed a guidance document (Guidance Specifying Management Measurse for Sources of Nonpoint Pollution in Coastal Waters) describing "management measures", each comprised of a series of best management practices. Coastal states are to fully implement these measures throughout their "Section 6217 management areas", and are to track and document progress.

The federal agencies also initially proposed the geographic area for each state's "Section 6217 management area". Pennsylvania's management area includes all of the watersheds that are tributary to our coastal waters - that is, all watersheds whose streams flow into Lake Erie or the tidal Delaware within Pennsylvania. Watersheds that extend into other states, and whose streams enter coastal waters through other states, are not included. The main stem of the Delaware River and its tributaries upstream of the tidal zone are also not included.

Map of Erie County and Southeast Regional CNPP Management Areas (PDF)

NOAA and EPA approved Pennsylvania's plan in 2001, with an exemption from the forestry and the agricultural irrigation management measures (PA CNPP Five-Year Implementation Plan and Fifteen-Year Strategy). Approval resulted in additional funding for implementing the program, and the requirement for Pennsylvania to develop a plan and strategy for implanting the program over the next five and 15 years. The funding is used within the CNPP management area to incorporate management measures further into existing programs, fund local projects that implement any management practices that accomplish the management measures, and enhance the capabilities of local organizations to prevent the CNPP-specific categories of nonpoint source pollution. Conservation districts and the Philadelphia Water Department have been partners in implementing the CNPP program.

www.noaa.gov